Results: Men | WomenSAN FRANCISCO – In its third competition of the season, Academy of Art University cross country went up against NCAA Division I talent in Santa Clara and Saint Mary's as well as DII local rival SF State in a quad-meet out at Golden Gate Park once again. Junior
Kaelyn Harbison and redshirt sophomore
McKaela Christenson worked in tandem to lead the Urban Knights into third as a team while
PacWest Runner of the Week senior
Valentin Pepiot took eighth while pacing the men's team to fourth.
Neck and neck the entire 5.8k race, Harbison wound up finishing three seconds ahead of Christenson for fifth and sixth respectively. Harbison went 22:37 and Christenson followed mere steps thereafter at 22:40. Also among the top 10 was freshman
Emma Johnson in ninth (22:56) then senior
Elizabeth Khuu came in at 14th with a time of 23:09. Sophomore
Jamie Morris rounded out the Knights' top five qualifiers in 18th at 23:29.
Santa Clara placed two of its five qualifiers, Grayson Murphy (21:36) and Mary Kriege (21:37), as the only sub-22:00 runners and claimed first as a team ahead of Saint Mary's, ART U, and SF State. The Knights collectively ended up just 25 seconds off of the Gaels.
On the men's side, Pepiot led the way with an eighth place finish and a final mark of 23:34 on the 7.25k race featuring five loops around Speedway Meadows. He ended up amid a group of Saint Mary's runners as each of the four teams was represented in the top 10 finishers. Graduate student
Kris Everett came in 14th overall with a time of 23:57 while redshirt freshman
Phillip Kruse took 21st at 24:08. Redshirt senior
Jack Nevins crossed the line at 24:57 for 29th overall and, battling sickness, junior
Austin Esposito was 33rd at 26:03.
Though Saint Mary's placed its top four among the top 10 runners overall, SF State just edged the Gaels with its five within the top 12. The individual winner was from neither team, however, as Santa Clara's Bryan Crook took the title at 23:06.
Academy of Art will be in action next week at the Stanford Invitational to be held at the Stanford University Golf Course on Saturday, Sept. 26.
